From numerous financial news sources, Steve Balmer is quoted as saying “We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition,” however, he also stated “I’m sure there are still opportunities for some kind of partnership around search.” Does this make the outlook bleak for Yahoo?
Not necessarily. Microsoft and Yahoo used to have a partnership before Microsoft went out on its own. Yahoo would dispaly paid ads on Microsoft search properties and everything was going well. Granted, this is at least a few years ago now and many things have changed - Yahoo has lost much of it’s quality traffic, Google has been growing and securing its dominance, and Microsoft is still trying to become a true player in search. Still, a deal, whether it be an actual acquisition or just a partnership still helps create much needed competition in the marketplace.
I’m not sure I completely believe Steve when he says an acquisition won’t happen. I’m sure his ego isn’t helping the situation, but with Yahoo all of a sudden coming back and begging to be bought by Microsoft, he might just be playing the waiting game hoping to get a very attractive price. It isn’t like either of the two companies have had any major changes since they were last looking at a deal, the economy is worse, but the sticker price would also be a lot lower.
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